The subject matter herein relates generally to electrical connectors, and more particularly, to high density electrical connectors.
A variety of electrical connectors are used for electrical connections in a variety of computer, telecommunication and other applications. For example, some known CHAMP® connectors are used in computing and telecommunicating applications. These connectors include a plug connector that mates with a receptacle connector. The plug and receptacle connectors are elongated along a horizontal direction. Each of the plug and receptacle connectors includes a plurality of electrical contacts. The contacts are oriented in a single pair of parallel rows. The parallel rows of contacts in the plug connector engage the parallel rows of contacts in the receptacle connector when the plug connector and receptacle connectors mate with one another.
The contacts in each row are separated from one another by a minimum distance. For example, the rows of contacts may be separated by at least 4.32 millimeters. This minimum distance is established to reduce the effects of crosstalk on adjacent contacts. As the distance between the rows of contacts is decreased, the signals communicated using the contacts may degrade due to crosstalk.
With increasing bandwidth and signal speeds, additional contacts in electrical connectors may be necessary. However, the space available for the addition of more contacts, is limited. Thus, in order to increase the number of contacts, more contacts may need to be placed closer together. As more contacts are added to a limited space on a circuit board, adjacent contacts or adjacent rows of contacts may be positioned too close to one another. As described above, placing the contacts or rows of contacts too close to one another can cause signal degradation.
Thus, a need exists to reduce the amount of space that a connector occupies on a circuit board, while still providing sufficient distance between the contacts in the connector to reduce crosstalk between the contacts.